You name it, and someone participating in the Komen Columbus Race for the Cure is running (or
walking) on behalf of one or more of these loved ones.

The annual event yields inspiration at every turn.

Ahead of the 2014 race,
The Dispatch asked readers to tell us about the person or people who inspire them to join
the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.

Here, we present a sampling of the stories and photographs we received.

A mutual respect

I run for Lori Elliott, who has been inspiring me since 2005.

I met Lori in 2004, when she was brought in to manage the bank branch where I was working.

The next year, Lori learned that she had breast cancer. After a long battle, she is free of the
disease today.

Lori is one of the kindest, bravest women I’ve ever met.

She has always believed in me and has always stood by me, and I will always return the
favor.

Lori nominated me for the Stephanie Spielman’s Champions award in 2007 and our story was picked.
The words she wrote in the letter about me will always stay with me, and I want her to know how
much the words meant to me.

We have been participating in the Race for the Cure since 2006 and will continue to do so until
a cure is found.

— Aaron Hodge,

Columbus

A shared journey

Pam White’s husband had just retired, and Pam was thinking about her own retirement coming
up.

In this new chapter of life, she imagined enjoying visits from her children and grandchildren
and taking trips with friends.

Then Pam had her yearly mammogram and heard the terrifying, dreaded words:
You have cancer.

Pam endured bilateral mastectomies, treatment and reconstructive surgery. But her story doesn’t
end there.

She is a survivor.

Pam, cancer-free for 14 months, is back to work and enjoying her normal routine.

Pam is such a happy person and gives so much to others. She has been very open about her cancer
journey and has allowed her co-workers to learn and to support her.

Because of her, we were able to experience this journey with her — the shock of the diagnosis,
the fear of the unknown, the frustration with the setbacks as well as the elation of her
outcome.

We are Pammie’s Peeps, and we will race for the cure!

— Julie Hanshaw,

Columbus

A team effort

My mom, Phyllis Ware, is my inspiration.

A mother of six who has been cancer-free since 2000, she attacked the disease head-on by reading
and researching (radiation therapy, chemotherapy, exercise, diet) and praying.

Once we realized that breast cancer had entered our lives, my siblings and I made sure that our
mother — an only child and widow — knew that she would never fight alone.

She was accompanied to every doctor visit, outpatient treatment and checkup. The team effort
made a difference.

We thank God for Mom every day!

— Brenda Ware,

San Diego

A mother’s love

I will walk for and with my beautiful 25-year-old daughter, Heather Casperson, who found out in
February that she has stage 3 breast cancer.

Although undergoing weekly chemo treatments, Heather has continued working full time and has
even taken up running.

Despite the chemotherapy, upcoming surgery and radiation, Heather remains the positive person
she has always been and the kind of person everyone wants to be around.

She is loved by so many!

— Kim Spicer,

Canal Winchester

A husband’s devotion

My wife, Heather Casperson, inspired me to run.

In October, when we were still dating, she said she felt a lump in her breast.

We went to see a doctor, who performed an ultrasound. He told us that he thought the mass could
be eliminated with medicine and basically indicated that she is too young to have breast
cancer.

Heather is 25.

During the winter, we toured Europe and, while we were in front of the Eiffel Tower on New Year’s
Eve, I asked her to marry me. She said yes, and we talked about an August wedding.

In February, she still felt the mass, so we went to a different doctor, who later confirmed that
she has breast cancer.

Heather is currently undergoing chemotherapy at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital. We moved
our wedding to March 8, so we could go through the process as a married couple.

Heather is an inspiration. She wants to spread the word to younger women that “early detection
is key” and that self-examination of breasts can save lives.

— Mark Casperson,

Canal Winchester

An ‘amazing woman’

My mom has long

been my inspiration.

She is my hero.

Her breast cancer was diagnosed in 2011, and, after surgery and eight rounds of chemotherapy,
she kicked its butt!

The whole time, all she wanted to do was go back to work, of all things. She was a nurse at
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where she worked for 32 years.

After battling cancer, she found a whole new outlook on life — which made me admire her only
more.

My mom relapsed in November and, sadly, passed away on March 14, just four days after her 55th
birthday.

This year will mark my eighth Race for the Cure. For the first seven of them, my mom walked
right by my side, along with the rest of “Kim’s Army.”

This year, “Kim’s Army” will be walking to celebrate and honor the life of a truly amazing
woman, mother and friend.

— Ashley Cadenhead,

Reynoldsburg

A loyal advocate

I no longer walk for my mother. Her breast cancer finally won the battle — in 1998, after a
10-year dance.

I now walk for my wife, Vickie, who took up the dance in 2012. I walk for the selfish reason
that I want her here with me for as long as possible. I want to keep her smile, her hugs, our
talks, our private familiar ways. I can tell you all day what I would miss about her.

I have only one word describing what I would miss about breast cancer:
nothing.

— Tony Cochran,

Upper Arlington

A pink commitment

After watching one of my senior volleyball players weather a horrible game, I walked over to her
and said, “Don’t worry about it; everyone has bad games.”

She paused and said: “It’s not the game, coach. I found out today that my mom has only has six
months to live.”

Suddenly, the volleyball game didn’t seem so important.

I made a commitment that night as I stood in the rain with Lindsey crying on my shoulder: I
would spend the rest of my career trying to get students involved in this fight.

The students, staff and community of Hamilton Local Schools are absolutely amazing. They are
dedicated to pink — not just because they can wear pink wigs, pink face paint, pink boas, pink
tights, and even pink tutus to school — yes, even the boys! They are dedicated to pink because so
many of them have been affected by breast cancer.

My goal and my promise: Take every student I can to the race every year, for the rest of their
lives.

Or better yet — every year until a cure is found.

— Carol Morbitzer,

Groveport

A walk for many

I walk the Komen for the “collective me.”

As a two-year triple-negative breast-cancer survivor, my face reflects me; my husband, Tony;
relatives; friends; medical teams; and all others touched or someday to be touched by this
disease.

My beautiful mother-in-law took my hand as we walked to the operating room when she was
undergoing a double mastectomy at the start of her 10-year journey in 1988.

She kissed me and said, “I want to show you how to do this if you ever have to.”

The breast-cancer walk was more solitary then; now I walk with many for all of us.

I have to. It is my time.

I hope that, together, we learn the secrets — so that one day we no longer need to walk.

— Vickie Smith,

Upper Arlington

A second family

Nationwide is like a second family to those of us lucky enough to work here.

She is approaching the news with grace, tenacity, humor and gritty determination.

Kim will be recuperating this year on race day, but she has already pledged to race next year
with “Team Geyer.”

We just started her team, and already my Nationwide family and friends have helped us surpass
our fundraising goal — and our drive continues.

— Patti Cotter,

Columbus

A loving beginning

As a fellow Peorian and sorority sister, I am so incredibly proud and amazed by all that Nancy
Brinker has accomplished in her tireless efforts to find the Cure.

My hat, my heart and my support is off to her. She is both an advocate and a survivor.

She has written about “the promise” she made to her sister, Suzy (Susan G. Komen), to raise
awareness about breast cancer. After Susan’s death at age 36, Brinker founded Susan G. Komen for
the Cure in 1982. I am confident that Suzy and the hundreds of thousands of others are extremely
humbled and forever grateful for her efforts.

I have participated in Komen Columbus every year since its inception, and many times participate
the weekend before in the Race for the Cure in Peoria, Ill.

I feel certain that we will find a cure in my lifetime, and I will always think of Nancy and how
the effort to bring awareness, funding and hope all began.

— Nancy B. Heller,

Columbus

An 11-year milestone

I race for my wife, Ella Jane Hampton.

She was chosen as the 2014 honorary chairwoman of the race for a reason: In August, she will
celebrate 11 years of being cancer-free. (She continues with her six-month checkups, including one
on May 5. All was good!)

She is a compassionate, caring individual, always talking to someone in treatment to encourage
them to always have hope and to believe that a cure will be found. She is so passionate and
encouraging to everyone she meets.

I am so proud of her!

— Clyde R. Hampton,

Columbus

A run for all

I run for my wife, Allison Crawford, who dealt with breast cancer and is still with us.

I run for my daughters, Meghan and Katie, in the hope that they won’t have to ever deal with the
terrible disease.

I run for all the women we have lost, all the women who are fighting right now, and all the
women who will have to fight if we don’t find a cure.

I run for all the people who raise funds or provide support to all these women.

— Al Crawford,

Reynoldsburg

A true inspiration

My inspiration is Adri Sfalcin, a two-time breast-cancer survivor.

We have been friends since high school. She is by far the most positive woman I know who has
faced this disease head-on two separate times.

Adri has always maintained an attitude of “just get rid of it” and has never asked “why me?”

She is a woman of faith — someone I view as a true survivor.

I walked in honor of her in the past and will walk for her in the future.

— Patti Sidner,

West Jefferson

A courageous battle

If it weren’t for Jodi Brown, I would not have walked in my first Race for the Cure in 2010.

Jodi, a co-worker, learned that she had breast cancer at age 32.

Two months after her diagnosis, the Central Crossing

High School staff participated in the Race for the Cure in our brown Team Jodi shirts.

Her fight wasn’t easy, although she continued to teach and be a wife and a mother to her young
boys. And she continues to inspire me by helping others battle

the disease.

Jodi, along with Angie Abel, founded Courage, Conquer and Cure. They have held their own 5Ks,
raising $48,000 for the Stephanie Spielman Fund in just two years.